1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image reproduction apparatus, such as printers and copiers, and more particularly relates to paper feed and image imprinting control aspects of such apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
The formation and subsequent printing of large scale images, such as engineering drawings, has been considerably facilitated in recent years with the advent of CAD (computer assisted drawing) software that may be loaded on a personal computer and used to rapidly form complex on-screen images that may be stored in the computer memory and later transmitted for printout to an image reproduction machine such as a computer controlled plotter that reproduces the computer generated image or images on a large paper sheet.
While the use of plotters can rather rapidly produce highly accurate, enlarged scale reproductions of a computer generated image, plotters tend to be relatively large, mechanically complex and expensive and thus unsuitable in many drawing reproduction applications in which space and budgetary constraints must be met. Of course, plotters are not the only apparatus capable of reproducing computer generated images of the complexity of engineering drawings. A variety of smaller and less expensive personal printing devices, such as the increasingly popular laser printer, are readily available for this use.
However, a scale problem often exists when a conventional laser printer, or another type of image reproduction machine utilizing cut paper sheets, is used in this application. This is due to the fact that many personal laser printers are only dimensioned to handle 8.5".times.11" (letter size) and 8.5".times.14" (legal size) cut paper sheets. While CAD programs are typically provided with the capability of downscaling an engineering drawing to a printout size that will fit within either of these "correspondence" sheet sizes, many engineering drawings are relatively complex with many connected and overlapping parts. Accordingly, if they are downsized to fit within the boundaries of an 8.5".times.11" or 8.5".times.14" sheet of paper, they may well be too small to be easily read.
It can be readily seen from the foregoing that it would be desirable to provide methods and associated apparatus that would permit an image reproduction machine, such as a laser printer, to print out on an oversized cut paper sheet an image substantially larger than that which can be accommodated by a cut paper sheet that the machine is nominally configured to handle and imprint. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such methods and associated apparatus.